


Sideshow

by clockwork_spider



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Angst, Gen, I Tried, I tried to be positive, Stream of Consciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 06:13:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8653870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clockwork_spider/pseuds/clockwork_spider
Summary: They say everyone thinks they’re the hero of their own story. That’s actually not true. Most people, as Dennis has come to realize, simply thought of themselves as side-characters. It's pretty strange to shout "the show must go on" when it isn't being interrupted. Perhaps it's a reminder to oneself, a mantra to live by.





	

They say everyone thinks they’re the hero of their own story. That’s actually not true. Most people, as Dennis has come to realize, simply thought of themselves as side-characters.

Dennis was thirteen when he realized that he was a side character.

He was fourteen when one of his professors placed a hand on his shoulder, and said “you have a role to play.”

It’s not as if Dennis never dreamt of being a hero. He had. Dennis Macfield, elite agent of Academia, who brought glory to his dimension.

Or perhaps, Dennis Macfield, entertainer, bringer of smiles.

How ludicrous.

Even a sociopath would know, when they hear the terrified cries of the children, whom were smiling and laughing just the day before, that they weren’t on the side of the angels.

A villain, then, perhaps? One to strike fear into the heart of the bravest men?

But he made them laugh, and smile, and heard them chant his name. And he smiled as well when they tossed flowers and coins at him, because he knew, secretly, that this isn’t real, and it’s hilarious because he’s the only one, he’s the only one that knows what’s coming. Like he’s one man laughing at a private joke. And he prayed that it’ll never have to come.

_“You have a role to play,” said his instructor, the weight of her warm hand resting on his shoulder._

He wasn’t the fearsome villain, couldn’t be. He was a side character. A sideshow, an opening act. And his performance must draw to a close.

_The show must go on._

He greenlit the hunting game, and watched as Heartland, radiant, beautiful, smiling Heartland, burned. And all he could do was smile at the cacophony before him, smile at his handiwork.

Smiling took less energy than screaming.

_The show must go on._

But when Dennis Macfield has a choice, he’d play the role of a hero. Someone charming, kind, perhaps a bit goofy, someone you could have a good laugh at.

“This man is no hero!” Cried Gongenzaka, righteous anger on his face. They always have righteous anger on their faces.

“Ah well,” he smiled, if a villain is what they wanted, he could play that too.

_The show must go on._

And when he got onto the D-Wheel, with Kurosaki in the lead, he hears his ending score, and thought, “it’s sad that this has to end so soon”. And the Trapeze Magician shatters, its smiling mask disappearing in a burst of light, and he was forced to reveal fusion. His body hit concrete. It was time for him to exit as a villain.

But he didn’t, and Yusho had his hand extended towards him. He remembered the weight of his instructor’s hand on his shoulder, telling him, _“you have a role to play”._

_The show must go on._

He no longer knew what role to play.

This time, he exits, not as a hero, not as a villain. But he knew that his time was up. That it was time for him to exit. The he’d used up all his masks, and couldn’t perform any longer.

The show must go on without him.

And when he existed once more, when, once more, he felt the weight of his body weighing down on his two feet, Yushou still had his hand extended towards him. 

“Don’t run away, Dennis.” Yusho’s hand rest firmly against his shoulder. _You have a role to play._

“What am I to do now?” He already played his role. The opening act had already ended, had ended long ago. What role did he have?

“Stay, show your old comrades how to smile. Show them another way. You make people smile, Dennis, you have a talent for it.”

“But I…”

_I’m tired._

_I’m afraid._

_I don’t know how to go on._

“You know, there’s this thing you use to shout in your duel,” Yusho sat down besides him, “the show must go on?”

“It’s an old theatre saying,” he scratched the back of his neck, “and how I always understood it… Well… Life isn’t scripted, it’s improv. None of us know where we’re going, what role we have to play, how we’ll end, and that’s okay. It’s fine to not know where to go, to stutter and stumble through your part.”

"We can spend forever rooted to the spot in fear, but if we bravely face tomorrow with a smile, then our audience will smile back at us. And then we can feel a little braver, and we keep going.”

Yusho looked to him expectantly.

“To be honest,” Dennis gave a small, dry laugh, "I don’t understand a single word you’re saying.”

None of it made any sense. But when Yusho said it, with a confident smile and a hand on his shoulder, he felt like perhaps it _mattered_. Perhaps he could smile, like Yusho was smiling.

And perhaps, he could go on, and keep pushing until he finds another role for himself.

The show must go on.

**Author's Note:**

> My blog had numerous text posts, at complete random hours, of me screaming about Dennis. I decided to make the incoherent screaming into the form of a fic. This made more sense in my head.


End file.
